This invention relates to the field of pizza preparation and, more particularly, to a pizza toppings disk and a method and apparatus for making the disk.
High volume automated systems are available for the mass production of pizzas which are typically frozen for improved shelf life and are sold to consumers through grocery stores. Most restaurants and delivery operations are reluctant to use these types of mass produced pizzas, in part because the freezing of the pizza crust significantly detracts from the flavor of the pizza after cooking. As a result, pizzas served by restaurants and delivery operations are typically prepared manually at the time an order is received. The process of preparing a pizza manually generally involves the sequential steps of forming or providing a crust, spreading a quantity of pizza sauce on the upper surface of the crust, and applying cheese and pizza toppings such as sliced meats and vegetables to the sauce base. As can be readily appreciated, the preparation of pizzas in this manner represents a substantial expenditure in time and effort.
In addition to time considerations, the manual preparation of pizzas is highly inexact. The sauce, cheese and toppings applied to each pizza are usually unmeasured and are quickly applied. This causes a lack of uniformity in the amount of cheese and toppings applied to the pizzas, which results in a reduced ability of restaurants to control and monitor the costs and logistics of production. The lack of uniform distribution of cheese and toppings can also cause the pizza to have an inconsistent flavor and appearance.
Furthermore, the rate and quality of pizza production in restaurants and delivery operations is directly related to the experience of the person who prepares the pizza. Thus, to be most efficient, the restaurant or delivery operation must invest substantial resources in training and supervising individuals in the process of pizza preparation.
Various apparatuses and methods have been heretofore devised to address the problems of time-consumption and inconsistency associated with pizza preparation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,256,432 to McDonald et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,899 to Moshier et al. disclose a method and apparatus for the automated production of a pizza toppings "disk" which can be subsequently applied to a pizza crust. The toppings disk is formed by mechanically regulating and depositing a quantity of cheese and a plurality of pizza toppings onto a non-edible forming surface rather than a pizza crust. The cheese and pizza toppings are then fused together using heat or other means. The toppings disks can then be frozen and shipped to restaurants or, alternatively, the toppings disks can be prepared at the restaurant location and stored for later use.
A pizza toppings disk is utilized by applying the disk to a pizza crust which has previously been layered with a quantity of pizza sauce. A pizza preparer can thus quickly prepare a pizza by applying pizza sauce to a crust and then selecting the appropriate toppings disk and applying it on top of the pizza sauce. The pizza is then cooked and is ready for serving.
The flavor of a pizza prepared using a pre-made pizza toppings disks can be generally comparable to a freshly made pizza because only the toppings disk and not the pizza crust need be frozen. The use of pizza toppings disks thus provides a significant taste improvement in comparison to most pre-made, frozen pizzas while providing many of the same advantages of reduced preparation time and improved product consistency. Further improvements in the method of making pizzas would nonetheless be desirable. For example, it would be desirable to include the pizza sauce within the toppings disk in order to ensure that uniform amounts of sauce are evenly distributed in the finished pizza and to further reduce the amount of time required to assemble the pizza. However, the flowable nature of the pizza sauce makes it generally unsuited for use in the toppings disk because portions of it would tend to seep out of the disk and/or remain on the forming surface when the disk is removed from the forming surface and applied to the pizza crust.